Bird Sightings

Great morning on my own. Shell  duck, Dunlin, Oyster Catcher, Redshank, 9 Green shank, Curlew, Little egret, Heron, Wigeon, Kingfisher, 11 Snipe, 1 Turnstone and pleanty of of the usual. 

Late for yesterday.

Lower Tamar Lake

2 Willow Tits, 2 Marsh Tits,1 Goldcrest, 1m Great Spotted Woodpecker, 5 Great Crested Grebe, 5 Coot, 11 Cormorant.

11:11 – 12:30

Maer Rocks from the lifeboat station: 1 female Eider.

Shelly Beach buildings: 1 male & 2 female Black Redstart. 

On the high tide around 10:30 there were numerous rafts of duck drifting about, mainly Wigeon but also counted 23 Pintail a fairly even mix of M & F

Mid Devon birds  meeting,  the reservoir is still very low, with no water at all north of the viaduct, and only a few ducks and geese to see, the walk finished with 31 birds seen,

Morning visit to the marshes began well with 2 cattle egrets with cattle close to the Swan’s Nest pub. On the railway bridge was a flock of long-tailed tits and a goldcrest. 

The marshes provided a spectacle of waders and waterfowl, the most I have seen for months. The ducks included wigeon  (several hundred), teal, pintail, shoveller and a few mallard. The waders included curlew, black-tailed godwit (c400), dunlin (c80), 2 snipe and a single ruff. The mass of waterfowl was attracting attention from a female peregrine  (adult) and 2 marsh harriers. Other raptors included 2 kestrel and a single buzzard. Amongst the waders and ducks were c100 starlings, 5 skylarks and c4 meadow pipit.

At The Turf one common sandpiper, one kingfisher, 7 grey plover and a few redshank. I failed to see the beaver seen earlier by the sluice gates.

Three little egrets in fields with horses at Haye Farm, Plymstock.  One in field to west of Haye road and two in field to the east. Showing well.

A male Black Redstart seen in the church yard at South Brent early this afternoon, Redstart, Mistle Thrush and Song Thrush feeding in the Yew trees.

In addition to Pete’s sightings of today, in between the rain deluges, four redhead Goosanders were being flushed down the river which was in heavy spate. 

There’s been a hundred Black-tailed Godwits on the scrape for a few days now (well 98 today) in one count, but good numbers non-the-less. In the reserve this morning, 20 Long-tailed Tits (at least) a Chiffchaff, and later a probable Siberian Chiffchaff.

Birds are clearly benefitting from Blaxton Meadow’s increased water levels; as well as several hundred commoner waders, today’s sightings there included: Grey Plover, Turnstone (another 14 on the estuary), 11 Snipe, 10 Greenshanks, 2 Common Sandpipers, 2 Shovelers new in, Teal increased to 5 & 16 Wigeon. Also around the patch, 2 Kingfishers, Great Crested & 2 Little Grebes, 3 Red-breasted Mergansers (2 drakes), 4 Fieldfares, Green Woodpecker, 3 Firecrests & 3 Siskins.

3 black redstart, 1m,2f/imm private gardens between Veasy Park and Brownhill Lane

East Devon Branch had an excellent outing last Thursday 10th. A total of 51 species including a wide range of waders – curlew, avocet, OC, redshank, dunlin, knot, ringed, grey and golden plover and a lovely flock of approx. 100 black tailed godwit that landed just in front of us. Other highlights were a large group of Pintail (30+) and a snipe (uncharacteristically) wading in one of the ditches in the fields.

One male and two females by edge of golf course and pebble ridge.